“I think that gulf is what makes the work interesting, but as a creator it's endlessly frustrating because I'm starting out with this goal, this thing I'm trying to create, and then the thing I actually do create is very, very different. It's always painful, in some ways, especially when it's just finished.” ThinkingWayTryingDifferentGoalInterestingStartingPainfulCreatorFinishedFrustratingStarting Out Author:Daniel Clowes
“Before I could read, I remember trying to piece together the stories from the images. It was a very primal experience.” TryingStoriesTogetherRememberPiecesPrimal Author:Daniel Clowes
“I can look at my early work and see what a pained struggle it was to draw what I was drawing. I was trying so hard to get this specific look that was in my head, and always falling short.” TryingLooksI CanHardFallStruggleDrawsDrawingTrying So HardEarly Work Author:Daniel Clowes
“There are certain comics that just seem like they have this perfect balance between dialogue and image that I can't not read. I'll want to save it for later, and the next thing I know, I'm reading it. That's what I'm kind of trying to do with my comics.” KnowsWantTryingKindI CanSeemsCertainReadingNextPerfectBalanceDialoguePerfect Balance Author:Daniel Clowes
“I try to only work on the screenplays for a few hours a day when I'm in my most voluble mood, just sort of writing whatever comes into my head. It's a very freeing thing.” WritingTryingHoursMoodScreenplays Author:Daniel Clowes
“I'd always wanted to do a weekly strip, or a strip that was in installments like that. It's been fun trying to figure out how to make that work. Their standards are so prissy that they won't allow me to use all kinds of language. Not only can you not swear, this morning I was informed I couldn't use the word "schmuck." I couldn't use "crap," "schmuck," or "get laid." Those three were beyond the pale. But you get around that, and it comes out better. I can't quite explain why.” TryingKindLanguageFunMorningAll KindsSwearCrapGetting Laid Author:Daniel Clowes
“I just try to make comics for myself, try to give it some kind of unity throughout. That often involves tiny details. I'm never sure what's going to be obvious or what nobody will ever notice. I put stuff in my comics that I thought was blatantly obvious, and nobody noticed. And things that I think are buried in the background, everybody gets it. So I try to be consistently aware of every part of the frame.” ThinkingGivingTryingKindUnityObviousConsistently Author:Daniel Clowes
“You have to find the tone of the piece and modulate that. There are ways to indicate that - I try to incorporate the biggest range I can within the story, going from humorous to serious without it being jarring. That's the hardest part, to keep that balance. It requires being constantly aware of where you are in the story. You can't really do that in a movie: You can't slightly modulate the tone by the way the character's eyeballs look in one certain scene.” TryingSeriousBalanceSceneHumorous Author:Daniel Clowes
“I try to employ a different strategy for each story. Often, I'll have a specific look in mind before I even have the story to go with it. I'm not so much interested in forcing the issue of reader identification through various graphic tricks. I'm more interested in creating specific characters that resonate with my own particular inner struggles.” TryingMindDifferentCharacterStruggleStrategyVariousGraphic Author:Daniel Clowes
“I lose faith in everything else, but rarely in my work. If I start to get bored, I change it to make it more interesting. I try not to take it too seriously, but I also try to never cheat or hurry things along.” TryingInterestingBoredCheat Author:Daniel Clowes
“You try to make the world a better place and what does it get you? I mean, Christ, how the hell does one man stand a chance against four billion assholes?” MenWorldTryingMeanDoeChristChanceHellFourBillionsOne ManBetter Place Author:Daniel Clowes
“But they always just laugh off everything I say, when really I want absolutely nothing more than to destroy the world they live in and to watch them suffer, alone and miserable, trying to live in my world for a change!” WorldWantTryingSufferingWatchesLaughingMiserableAbsolutely Nothing Author:Daniel Clowes
“I was a very fearful little kid, and I would always see the worst in everything. The glass was half-empty. I would see people kissing, and I would think one was trying to bite the other.” PeopleThinkingTryingLittlesKidsHalfWorstKissingEmptyGlassesBitesFearfulLittle KidHalf Empty Author:Daniel Clowes
“I must have been 3 years old or less, and I remember paging through these comics, trying to figure out the stories. I couldn't read the words, so I made up my own stories.” TryingYearsHas BeensMadeStoriesRememberMy OwnFigures Author:Daniel Clowes
